Advanced Materials Manufacturing & Characterization Vol 3 Issue 1 (2013)

Advanced Materials
Manufacturing & Characterization
journal home page: www.ijammc-griet.com

A Review on Severe Plastic Deformation

B.Srinivas1, Ch. Srinivasu2, Banda Mahesh3, Md Aqheel4
1Maheshwara Engineering College, Patancheru Hyderabad 502307
2VR Siddhartha engineering college, kanuru,Vijayawada,520007.
3DRK Institute of Science and Technology, Hyderabad, 500090
4Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering and Technology.

ARTICLE INFO A B S T R A C T

Article history: In the recent years much attention has been paid to the development of ultra-fine grained and
Received 25 Dec 2012 nanostructured materials due to their superior properties. Several severe plastic deformation (SPD)
Accepted 26 Dec 2012 techniques have emerged in the recent years for producing ultra fine grained materials in bulk metals
and alloys. Among the various SPD techniques proposed most of the methods are intended for
processing bulk materials; very few methods like Equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP),High pressure
Keywords: torsion (HPT)technique ,constrained groove pressing (CGP) and repetitive corrugation and
Severe Plastic deformation; straightening (RCS) are capable of processing sheet materials. The requirement of stringent surface
Equal-channel angular pressing; preparation the propensity of cracking due to de-lamination of accumulative roll bonded layersand
constrained groove pressing; formation of edge cracks limits the application of ARB processed sheets. Meanwhile in RCS process
High pressure torsion (HPT)technique elongation of sheets causes strain inhomogeneity. The recently invented CGP process sans above
mentioned problems is considered method for producing fine grained sheet materials for structural
applications .A further defining feature of SPD techniques is that the preservation of shape is achieved
due to special tool geometries which prevent the free flow of material and thereby produce a significant
hydrostatic pressure. The presence of a high hydrostatic pressure, in combination with large shear
strains, is essential for producing high densities of crystal lattice defects, particularly dislocations, which
can result in a significant refining of the grains

Introduction
referred to simply as plasticity, this type of deformation can take
Severe plastic deformation (SPD) is a generic term be conducted under controlled circumstances [1]
describing a group of metal working techniques involving very
large strains which are imposed without introducing any Both the deformation of plastic and the deformation of
significant changes in the overall dimensions of the specimen or metals involve changes to the makeup of the material itself. For
work-piece. A further defining feature of SPD techniques is that example, metals that undergo this process of plastic deformation
the preservation of shape is achieved due to special tool experience a condition known as dislocation. As stress of some
geometries which prevent the free flow of material and thereby type is exerted on the metal, the material reaches a point known
produce a significant hydrostatic pressure. The presence of a high as the yield strength. When this point is achieved, the pattern of
hydrostatic pressure, in combination with large shear strains, is the molecules that make up the metal begin to shift. The end
essential for producing high densities of crystal lattice defects, result is that the molecules realign in a pattern that is shaped by
particularly dislocations, which can result in a significant refining the exterior stress placed on the object. As the dimensions of the
of the grains. work-piece practically do not change in an SPD operation, the
Plastic deformation is a process is which enough stress process may be applied repeatedly to impose exceptionally high
is placed on metal or plastic to cause the object to change its size strains. Optimization of routes and regimes of SPD can eventually
or shape in a way that is not reversible. In other words, the introduce an extremely fine microstructure into the processed
changes are permanent; even when the stress is removed, the material which will extend, reasonably homogeneously,
material will not go back to its original shape. Sometimes throughout the bulk. A distinctive feature of these ultrafine-
grained materials is that they contain a high fraction of grain
________________ boundaries having high angles of misorientation. SPD process is
 Corresponding author: B.Srinivas currently defined as any method of metal forming under an
 E-mail address: [email protected] extensive hydrostatic pressure that may be used to impose a very
 Doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.11127/ijammc.2013.02.053 high strain on a bulk solid without the introduction of any

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Copyright@GRIET Publications. All rights reserved.
significant change in the overall dimensions of the sample and
having the ability to produce exceptional grain refinement[2].
Based on the extensive research conducted to date,
applications of SPD techniques are now starting to emerge for
use in manufacturing industries and several commercial products
such as sputtering targets, fasteners and dental im-plants, are
already available. An up-scaling of the SPD processes, which are
Fig 2: ECAP with converging billets
already proven viable at the laboratory scale, and the
development of continuous processing techniques will further
allow for the development of large-scale applications. ECAP with converging billets
The compaction of powders through SPD processing is also an The new ECAP system uses two substantially equal
additional area of opportunity for utilization in large-scale square or rectangular input channels converging into a single
manufacturing. SPD methods are used to convert coarse grain output channel, which is twice as wide as the input channels so
metals and alloys into ultrafine grained (UFG) materials. that it can accept two converging billets. The contact surface
Obtained UFG materials then possess improved mechanical and between converging billets plays the same role as a movable
physical properties which destine them for a wide commercial bottom wall in the output channel of classical ECAP as show in fig
use[3]. The main aim of SPD processing is extreme grain 2. It reduces friction and the process force. This effect is achieved
refinement and the ensuing strengthening of the processed without using a complex die with movable parts[5]. Instead, two
material. There is no longer any doubt that this is achievable with punches are used to push two billets synchronously from the
most malleable and even with many hard-to-deform materials opposite sides. The system doubles productivity compared to the
Types of Severe plastic deformation case of processing a single billet. Show comp-arison of classical
ECAP of a single billet (without moving die walls) and ECAP with
Equal-channel angular pressing two converging billets in terms of strain distribution Friction
The process of equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP), coefficient in both processes is the same and equal m¼0.1. Strain
also known as equal-channel angular extrusion Equal channel appears to be similar, except the bottom part of the billet, where
angular pressing (ECAP) developed by Segal et al.is an effective it is smaller for ECAP with converging billets as in Fig2 . This is
tool to impose large plastic strains.ECAP is based on simple shear related to the fact that, in the absence of friction on the bottom
taking place in a thin layer at the crossing plane of the equal part of the billet, the die corner at the channel
channels[4]. The process has attracted considerable interest as a Intersection is filled less; the same effect would be
method to refine microstructure by deformation processing. observed in ECAP with a movable bottom wall. A remedy might
ECAP process involves simple shear deformation that is achieved be back pressure, which improves filling of the die and makes
by pressing the work piece through a die containing two channels strain distribution more homogeneous. ECAP with two
of equal cross-section that meet at a predetermined angle converging
.Deformation occurs in the immediate vicinity of the plane lying
at the intersection of two channels. The effective strain imposed Billets reduce friction in the output channel, which leads
on the work piece increases with decreasing channel angle (/). to a lower value of the maximum process force.
An important advantage of ECAP process is that a large amount of
simple shear deformation can be imposed in single or multiple
processing steps without changing the cross-section of the work
piece. In spite of its invention in the early 1980s, the process is
yet confined to the laboratory due to problems associated with
die design.Very few have extruded difficult-to-work materials
like titanium alloys, magnesium alloys and have succeeded to a
certain extent. Even in laboratory scaleprocessing, problems
arise when different materials are deformedwith a same ECAP
die set. ECAP is envisioned as a primary metal working process;
therefore an ECAP die should be able to process a wide variety of
materials successfully. In order to overcome this bottleneck, the
effect of various parameters such as corner angle friction strain
Fig 3 Different effective in Severe plastic
hardening rate, back pressure
deformation
Constrained groove pressing
In CGP the sheet material is subjected to repetitive
shear deformation under the plane strain conditions by
alternately pressing between asymmetrically grooved and flat
dies as in the fig4. The CGP die assembly essentially consists of
two asymmetric grooved dies for corrugating the sheet and two
flat dies for flattening the corrugated sheet. The asymmetric
grooved die consists of equally spaced groove and the distance
Fig 1:Equal-channel angular pressing
between the grooves is maintained as the thickness of the sheet

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to be processed. The groove angle (h) is maintained at 45 to for details. Because of size restrictions, the samples
obtain maximum uniform shear strain during CGP processing. manufactured by HPT are used primarily for research purposes.
The entire die assembly is constrained at both ends to ensure An important issue for many SPD processing schemes, including
plain strain deformation condition. A single pass of CGP involves HPT, is the non-uniformity of deformation[7]. For instance,
two stages of alternating corrugation and flattening of sheets. during HPT straining, the shear strain at the rotation axis should
During first stage the sheet is corrugated between asymmetric be zero, increasing linearly in the radial direction if the geometry
grooved dies imparting shear deformation in the inclined regions of the work piece does not change. This means that the material
followed by flattening between flat dies. At the end of first stage near the rotation axis of the sample should stay undeformed. This
total effective plastic strain of is introduced in the double hatched is not supported by numerous micro-structural observations and
regions whereas adjacent white regions in are left undeformed. micro hardness measurements showing a reasonably uniform
Before the start of second stage, the sheet is rotated by 180 along distribution of grain dimensions and micro-hardness, provided
the thickness axis or the asymmetric grooved die is shifted the compressive pressure and the number of revolutions of the
horizontally Equivalent to the groove width so that the anvil are sufficiently large. Vorhauer and Pippan explained this
undeformed flat regions obtained in the first stage is subjected to discrepancy by the fact that it is virtually impossible to realize an
shear deformation in the second stage. During second stage, ideal HPT deformation due to the misalignment of the axes of the
similar to first stage the sheets are corrugated and flattened anvils.
thereby imparting effective strain of 1.16 homogenously
throughout the sheet material. By repeating the process
continuously large amount of plastic strain can be imparted to
the material without appreciable dimensional changes, thereby
achieving fine grained structures and superior mechanical
properties[6].
Even though many earlier investigations have been
reported on processing of pure FCC metalsby CGP technique,
pure nickel sheet is processed by this technique for the first time
in the present work. Fig5. High technique pressure
torsion
Alternatively, the development of a reasonably uniform strain
and homogeneous microstructure was explained in terms of
gradient plasticity theory coupled with the micro structurally
based constitutive modeling .This model will be addressed in the
following section. Axial in homogeneities observed in an HPT-
processed Zr3Al intermetallic were associated with softening
effects related to nanostructuring.
Twist extrusion
The principle of TE process is pressing a billet through a
die with a profile consisting of two prism sections separated by a
twist section as shown in the fig6, where extremely large shear
deformation produces. The twist feature contributes to format
Fig 4: Constrained groove pressing the pronounced dislocation cell structure at the submicron scale .
TE has been aroused the considerable attention for the
The room temperature tensile behaviour of the nickel advantages of relative lower extrusion load and shearing strain
sheets processed up to three passes of CGP is investigated. The accumulation nature. Recently, some investigation of TE
influence of severe plastic deformation on the plastic flow technology in succession, e.g. kinematics of metal flow ,
behaviour of nickel is described by evaluating the applicability of computational study of TE process , summary on features of TE ,
different constitutive equations in the uniform deformation and mass experimental study on different materials processed by
range. The strain hardening behaviour is examined by Kocks– TE (Al, Cu, Ti, and their alloys; powders of different composition).
Mecking plot. Additionally the dislocation density evolution in Systematic investigations of material properties and deformation
severe plastically deformed nickel sheets is examined using characteristic are still needed to establish a basic foundation for
Kocks one variable phenomenological model. TE technology.TE technology is one of the most promising SPD
High pressure torsion (HPT) Technique methods for fabricating UFG materials in industrial
commercialization. However,the non-symmetric nature of the
High pressure torsion (HPT) refers to processing that process limits its application to only rectangular sections . Since
evolved from Bridgman’s anvils involves a combination of high industrial raw materials are basically round-section shape, the
(GPa range) pressure with torsional straining as shown in fig 5. limits of TE process would increase the complex process design,
Today this technique is appreciated by many researchers as the e.g. the manufacture of dies and equipment .
one that allows the most efficient grain refinement. A handicap of
the method is that only small coin-shaped samples, typically 10–
15 mm in diameter and 1 mm in thickness, can be processed. The
readers are referred to a comprehensive review on the subject

Fig 6.Twist extrusion

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 Therefore,it is advisable to roll the more easy formable metallic
materials to sheets and start the reaction of the elemental foils
into intermetallic phases subsequently. The limiting factor of the
reaction of titanium and aluminium to TiAl is the inter diffusion.
By ARB the thickness of the individual layers can be reduced
below the length which is affected by diffusion in a reasonable
short time. In addition diffusion is accelerated due to the gain in
free volume, the large volume fraction of grain boundaries and
the high number of vacancies caused by severe plastic
deformation.
A solid, light and tough material can be created by
Fig 7.Twist extrusion of a prismatic billet combining layers of a solid material such as titanium and a soft
material such as aluminum. A commonly known example for a
IT is another variant of a simple shear deformation process that composite like this is the seashell. The main aim of this project is
was introduced by Beygelzimer et al. some ten years ago [8-10]. to investigate the parameters of the production of Al-Ti-layered
Under TE processing, a prismatic billet is extruded through a materials. Because of the fact that the intermetallic phases are
“twist die”. While the advantage of the process is its high up not desirable in order to maintain the ductility the possibility to
scaling capacity, it suffers from essentially the same generic separate the titanium and aluminum layers by niobium
problem as the HPT: deformation is non-uniform, being smallest
near the extrusion axis. Investigation by Orlovet al. [11] showed Conclusion
that this technique is slightly less effective in producing UFG
structure than ECAP or HPT. A comprehensive theory of the trans-formation of the
dislocation cell structure into a new grain structure with a large
Accumulative Roll Bonding (ARB) proportion of high-angle grain boundaries
needs to be developed. Such a theory should provide insights in
A key issue of the research is the investigation of
the mechanisms and governing factors that determine the
Accumulative Roll Bonding in combination with other processes
smallest achievable grain size.
like Roll Bonding and Differential Speed Rolling. Accumulative
It probabilistic theory able to predict grain size and mis-
Roll Bonding (ARB) was first published by Saito in 1999. It
orientation angle distributions and their variation with strain for
combines joint plastic deformation with severe plastic
different deformation paths.
deformation. Two sheets are brushed on one side, each. These
Basis for simulations of the post-SPD performance of the
are placed together, facing each other and bonded together by
processed material under service conditions. Understanding
roll bonding with a thickness reduction of 50 percent as shown in
the nature of dislocation–grain boundary interactions for small
the fig 8 . As cold welding takes place during rolling a new sheet
grain size systems and the role of grain boundaries as sinks and
is produced. After rolling the sheet is divided in the transverse
sources of dislocations is a particularly interesting goal of
direction into two parts with the same geometry as the two initial
research
sheets. By repeating this cycle, a large plastic deformation is
SPD techniques to modify various physical or physicochemical
inserted into the metal. The applicability of ARB has been studied
properties of function-al materials. Work hardening is fairly low
for various metallic elements and alloys like steel, copper,
in ECAP-processed material. This is possibly due to the difficulty
aluminium and technically important aluminium alloys. The
of storing additional dislocations or there distribution of stored
development of texture, micro-structure and mechanical
dislocations during straining, that is not seen for annealed, well
properties has been studied mainly for aluminium alloys [12]. By
recovered materials.
utilising ARB laminar material composites can be produced by
ECAP with converging billets is a new original process, which
combinations of different materials. In addition intermetallic
reduces friction between die and billet by introducing another
phases can be generated. This in principle also holds for
symmetrical billet processed at the same time in a way, which
compounds such as _-AlTi, which are important high temperature
makes both billets converge in the output channel of the die. This
materials but are hard to roll to sheets
leads to forming force reduction and avoidance of material Pick
up on the die surface.

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